Music making toy



June 10, 1969 SAKUJIRO TOBARI MUSIC MAKING TOY Sheet Filed Dec. 4, 1967FIG! ' y IIIUU If M FIG?) FIGZ.

m In TM 0. F .WJY K a S ATTORNEYS June 10, 1969 SAKUJIRO TOBARI3,448,649

MUSIC MAKING TOY Filed Dec. 4, 1967 Sheet 2 of 2 &

III!!! INVENTOR F0 78 b "I ATTORNEYS United States Patent Us.- ci.84-102 1o Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE .Several .vehiclesconnectable together in a train .are movable along a roadway. Eachcarries a sound producing element; capable of producing a musical notewhen struck and a lever that has one end adapted to strike the soundproducing element and another end extending below the vehicle. As thevehiclemoves along the roadway, the latter :endof the lever elementhits-andrides up over a {peg in the roadway. This causes the other endof the lever elementito lift up from and then strike down on the. soundproducing element to produce amusical note. The lever: elements ondifferent-vehicles are aligned to be actuated .-bypegs' respectively atdifferent positions laterally across the roadway and thepegs are adaptedto be placed in the appropriate lateral positions at various pointsalong the length of the roadway :for varying the sequence in which theseveral sound producing elements are actuated as the vehicles. movealong.

The present invention relates to musical toys and particularly to amusic making toy consisting of several 'vehicles connectable togetherand movable on a roadway 'to produce a sequence of musical notes as thetrain travels along over the roadway.

Musical toysprovided by a vehicle, such as a railroad locomotive,adapted to produce musical notes as the vehicle: travels alonga roadwayor;track are known. In one knowniype, tone bars, which produce a musicalnote when struck, are spaced along the roadway in the manner of railroadties" and the locomotive carries'a striker element to strike successive{tone bars and produce'a succession of'musical notes" as it travelsalong the'tr'ack. A number of tone bars each adapted to produce adifferent note are provided and they are removably supported'under'therails for rearranging them for producing diiferent sequences of-themusical-notes. It is awkward, however, for a childto have to remove andreplace the tone bars in this manner and it detracts from the enjpymentof the toy. Moreover, the number of different sequences of noteswhichcan be set up with'this known toy is q uite limited.-

' v It '-i's therefore a particular object of the present inverition toprovide a music 'makingtoy which provides simple means for producing avery much larger variety of 'diife"re n t combinations and sequences ofmusical notes 'Tthan"p ossible with previously known music making toysjof" t he moving vehicle type.

'}'"Ano'the'r'object is to provide a toy of this type which is adaptedtobe constructed in simulation of a railroad i train and in which themanner of rearranging the sequenceor'eombination of musical notes doesnot interfere'with, but enhances, a childs imagining he is operating areal train. t p 7 In accordance with thisv invention, the toy consistsoffseveral vehicles connectable in a-train and movable along a roadway.The vehicles may be made to simulate railroad cars, or any other type ofcars movable along al predetermined roadway .and each vehicle carries atleast one tone hat which is capable of producing a ice musical note whenstruck by a striker on the vehicle. An arm of each of the strikers onthe several vehicles projects below the respective vehicles at diiferentlateral positions relative to the width of the roadway and pegs fortripping the arms are placed in the roadway to engage the arms andactuate the strikers. The pegs are adapted to be placed in the roadwayat intervals along the length of the roadway in lateral positions acrossthe width of the roadway corresponding respectively with the lateralpositions of the striker arms. Thus, the sequence in which the strikersare actuated as the vehicles move along the roadway is determined by thepositions of the respective pegs along and across the roadway, and thesequence or combination in which the musical notes are produced isvaried by rearranging the relative positions of the pegs, and also byrearranging the sequence of the vehicles in the train.

In a preferred form the toy of this invention is embodied in the form ofa railroad train, including a locomotive for pulling the vehicles, whichsimulate railway cars, along the roadway, which is in the form. of arailroad track.

Further objects, advantages and features of the toy of this inventionwill be apparent in thefollowing description of illustrative embodimentsshown in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a railroad locomotive and railroad cars on arailroad track, embodying a music making toy in accordance with thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the locomotive, cars and track shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section longitudinally through one of the railroadcars of FIG. 1, illustrating a manner of arranging a tone bar, andstriker therefor, on the car;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view, partly in phantom, showing an arrangementof two tone bars, and strikers therefor, on one of the railroad cars ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but showing a modified form of thestriker;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a section of the track of FIG. 1 showingmeans for mounting pegs in alternative positions across the track orroadway for actuating the strikers on particular cars;

FIG. 7 is a section along the line 7--7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 6 but showing an alternative form ofthe pegs and means for mounting them across the roadway; and

FIG. 9 is a section along the line 9-9 of FIG. 8.

Referring to the drawings, the illustrative embodiment of a music makingtoy in accordance with this invention,- as shown in FIGURE 1, includesseveral toy railway cars 10 and a locomotive 11 connected in a trainthat is movable along a railroad track 12. The track 12 is constitutedby parallel rails 14 supported on cross ties 15, and the cars 10 andlocomotive 11 are provided with flanged wheels 16 that hold them on thetrack. While only a straight section of the track 12 is illustrated, itwill be appreciated that the track may be made any desired length and bearranged in any desired configuration; it is preferably arranged to forma continuous circuit.

The cars 10 and locomotive 11 are suitably coupled together in aflexible and readily detachable manner by simple pin and hole couplings17 which enable the cars to be connected in any sequence. As shown thecouplings 17 are each provided by a plate 18 extending from the rear endof the locomotive and from one end of each car 10 and having a holetherein to receive a pin 19 project- Each of the cars 10 carries atleast one tone bar 22, which produces a musical note when struck and astriking lever 23 that is adapted to be tripped by a peg 24 on the track12 and strike the tone bar for producing its musical note as the car ismoved relatively past the peg 24. The several cars 10 are eachpreferably provided with a tone bar 22 for producing a different musicalnote or tone and two or more tone bars may be mounted on each car. Inits preferred form, the toy includes at least one tone bar for each noteon the music scale; these may be provided on a separate car for eachtone bar and/or by two or more of the tone bars on each of several cars.The portions of the striking levers that are engaged by the respectivepegs for tripping the levers associated respectively with the differenttone bars, and the pegs engaged thereby, are each in a differentposition relatively across the width of the track. Thus, the positionsof the respective pegs across the track and their relative positionsalong the length of the track determine the sequence in which the tonebars are struck.

Suitable structure of the tone bars 22 and striking levers 23, and theirarrangement on the cars 10 are illustrated by the car 10 depicted inFIG. 3, wherein a tone bar 22 rests across two spaced resilient supports26 on the floor of the car 10 and is held in position thereon by pegs 27projecting loosely. up through appropriate holes in the tone bar; thelatter holes are made large enough for the tone bar to be lifted off forswitching the tone bars around between different cars, or otherwisereplacing the tone bar with a different one. The striker lever 23 is anL-shaped lever formed by arms 28 and 29 attached to a cross bar 30 andextending therefrom approximately at right angles to each other. Thecross bar 30, which has upturned ends 31, is pivotally supported betweenthe side walls of the car 10 by a rod 32 received through the ends 31,with the ends of the rod 32 being journalled in opposite walls of thecar. The arm 28 has a striker head 34-shown as a ballnormally resting onthe tone bar 22 and the arm 29 extends down through an opening in thefloor of car 10 so that its lower end 29a is down far enough to engage apeg 24 that is on the track 12 in line to be engaged by the end 29a. Asthe car moves in the direction of arrow 35, the lower end 29a of thelever engages a peg 24; the lever then swings back and up to theposition indicated in dash-line as the lower end 2911 to ride up andover the top of the peg. The lever swings down and back again by its ownweight after the end 29a is carried past the peg, so that the strikerhead is thus lifted up from and then dropped down on the tone bar 22 toproduce a musical note. As shown, the front and rear end portions of thecars 10 have solidwalls 36 and the middle portions have open frames,indicated at 37, for letting the sound of the tone bar out. For the samepurpose, openings 38 may be provided in the floors of the cars.

The striking force of the striker head 34 may be increased by insertinga spring 40 between the top side of the arm 28 and the top of a car 10,but the spring is not essential.

FIG. 4 shows a car 10a having two of the tone bars 22, and strikinglevers 23 therefor, and illustrates the manner in which striking levers23 are arranged in different positions relative to the widths of thecars in order for their lower ends 29a to be engaged by pegs 24 arrangedrespectively in different lateral positions across the track 12.

FIG. shows a car b in which the striker lever 28 is constructed to beoperated by movement of the car 10b in reverse of the directionindicated for the operative movement of the car 10' of FIG. 3. With thecar 10b the striker lever 28 is tripped by a peg 24 on the track whenthe car moves in the direction of the arrow. For this purpose, a leverarm 39, formed in two parts 39a and 39b flexibly connected together, issubstituted for the arm 29 of the lever striker 28 of FIG. 3. As shownin FIG. 5, the part 39b is a short stub attached to the cross bar 30 ofthe lever and the lower part 39a, which has its lower end extendingbelow the floor of the car 10b to be engaged by a peg 24, is mounted toswing on a rod 42, which passes through the part 39a at a point near,but below, the upper end of the part, and which is appropriatelysupported between opposite walls of the car. The upper end of the part39a is linked to the part 39b by a pin 43 projecting from the side ofpart 39b and received in a vertical groove 44 in the part 39a. Thus, asthe car 10b moves to the right in the direction of arrow 41, the lowerend of part 39a engaging a peg 24 on the track causes the striking lever23 to be swung to the dash-line position indicated and back again tostrike striker head 34 on the tone bar 22.

In a preferred form of the invention, eight tone bars 22, each capableof producing a different one of the eight tones or notes of the musicalscale, are provided on the cars 10. These tone bars may each be carriedon a separate car, or two or more may be placed on one car in the mannershown in FIG. 4. In either case, the arms 29 of the striking levers 23for the respective tone bars are each arranged to project below therespective cars at a different position relative to the width of thetrack 12 so that the several arms 29 are tripped respectively by pegs 24in comparable positions across the width of the track. Therefore thepegs 24 are adapted to be positioned alternatively in any one of eightpositions across the width of the track-each position representing atone or note on the musical scaleand provision is made for thuspositioning pegs 24 at regular intervals along the length of the track.This latter interval, in conjunction with the speed at which the cars 10are moved along the track, determines the time between the sounding ofone note on the musical scaleand provision is made for explained below.

FIGS. 6 to 9 illustrate two different suitable means for supporting andpositioning pegs 24 in alternative positions on a roadway-the track 12in this instance. In the form shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the pegs 24 eachhave a stud 46 projecting from the bottom to be received in any one ofeight holes or wells 47 that are in the upper surface of each cross tie15 in a row across the width of the track between the rails 14. Eachhole 47 represents a musical note and a number of pegs 24 amounting tothe total number of notes are placed in selected holes 47 in selectedcross ties 15 to produce the desired sequence of notes as the severalvehicles 10 move along the track. In effect, the pegs 24 are positionedin selected holes 47 for producing a sequence of musical notes just assymbols for musical notes are placed in certain positions on a musicalstaff to indicate the particular notes to be sounded and the sequence ofsounding them.

Another suitable arrangement for placing pegs in selected positionsalong the track 12 is illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9. In this arrangement,pegs 24a, which are flat on the bottom, are arranged in a group of eightacross each cross tie 15 and are individually hinged, by hinges 49 onthe respective ties. As shown in FIG. 9, each peg 24a is hinged to anedge of the respective tie 15 to be upright on the tie in line to engagean arm 29 of a striker lever 28 on a car moving in the direction ofarrow 50, or to be tripped over and swung down to a position, shown indash-line, in which the arm 29 of a striking lever will pass over itwithout being tripped. Thus, selected pegs 24a are set in their uprightpositions to establish which tone bars 22 will be struck, and in whatorder, as the cars 10 move along the track; the other pegs 24a will, ofcourse, be swung down to the sides of the ties to be out of the way.

FIG. 2 illustrates the manner in which pegs 24 and cars 10 are arrangedfor the tone bars 22 on the several cars to be sounded in apredetermined sequence. In this figure the cross ties 15 along part ofthe track 12 are designated 15a 15b, 15c and 15d in sequence from thetop down; a train of cars pulled up the track 12 by the locomotive 11are designated 110, a and 1101;, and

the striker lever arms that are tripped by pegs 24 for sounding the tonebars on the respective cars are indicated schematically by short linesdesignated 129, 129a, 12% and 1290. As indicated, the arm 129 on car 110is in line to be tripped by a peg 24 in the second hole 47 from the leftin tie 15c, the arm 129a on car 110a is in line with a peg 24 in thefourth hole from the left in tie 15a, and the arms 12911 and c on car11% are in line respectively with a peg 24 in the third hole from theleft in tie 15d and a peg 24 in the seventh hole from the left in tie15b.

In FIG. 2 the ties 15 and 15a to d, are shown spaced so that thedistance between each three ties is the same as the distance between thelower arms (arms 129 and 129a, for example) of the striker levers oneach two successive cars. This spacing, however, is illustrative only;it is not critical, and is a matter of choice.

With the spacing of the ties and arrangement of pegs 24 and cars 110 to110k shown in FIG. 2, it will be seen that the sequence in which thearms 129 to 1290 will be actuated by the respective pegs 24 to sound thetone bars 22 as the train moves up the track is, first, arm 129 (by peg24 on tie 15c), arm 12912 by peg 24 on tie 15d), arm 129a (by peg 24 ontie 15a) and then arm 129a (by peg 24 on tie 15b).

It will then be seen that the sequence in which the tone bars 22 aresounded is determined both by the arrangement of the pegs 24 in theseveral possible positions across the ties 22 and the sequences in whichthe several cars are connected in a train, and that the time intervalbetween the soundings of the time bars produced by pegs on successiveties is determined both by the spacing of the ties and the speed atwhich the train is moved along the track. Thus, the toy of thisinvention is capable of being used to produce a fascinating and almostinfinite variety of combinations and sequences of musical notes.

What is claimed is:

1. A music making toy comprising several vehicles connectable in a trainand movable along a roadway, each of said vehicles carrying a soundproducing element capable of producing a musical note when struck andstriking means for striking said element, and trip means on the roadwayfor actuating the said striking means as the vehicles move past them,the striking means on different vehicles being arranged for each to beactuated by a different one of said trip means and each different tripmeans being in a different lateral position relative to the width of theroadway, and means for locating said trip means in alternative actuatingpositions laterally across the roadway at intervals along the length ofthe roadway, for arranging the trip means to produce musical notes in adesired sequence when the train is moved along said roadway.

2. The toy of claim 1 including a self-propelled power vehicle adaptedto ride on said roadway and being connectable to one of the other ofsaid vehicles for moving a said train of the latter vehicles along theroadway.

3. The toy of claim 1 including a vehicle having thereon more than oneof said sound producing elements and one of said striking means for eachof the said sound producing elements, the latter striking means eachbeing arranged to be actuated by a different one of said trip means andeach different trip means being in a different lateral position relativeto the width of said roadway.

4. The toy of claim 1 in which said trip means comprise pegs adapted tobe received and supported in holes in portions of said roadway, saidholes being arranged in rows laterally across said roadway with saidrows being spaced apart at intervals along the length of said roadway.

5. The toy of claim 1 in which said trip means comprise a plurality ofpegs arranged in rows laterally across said roadway, each of said pegsbeing hinged to a portion of said roadway to be adapted to swing from afirst position, in which its free end is in line to actuate the strikingmeans on one of said vehicles moving along the roadway, to a secondposition, in which its free end is out of said line, whereby a sequenceof musical notes to be produced is selected by swinging some of saidpegs to said first position and the others to said second position.

6. The toy of claim 1 in which said sound producing elementsrespectively on each of several of said vehicles areeach adapted toproduce a different musical note and in which said vehicles are adaptedto be connectable together in alternative sequences.

7. The toy of claim 1 in which said striking means comprises an L shapedlever having first and second arms joined at an elbow, said elbow beingpivotally mounted on said vehicle for a striker element on said firstarm normally to rest on said sound producing element and for the outerend of said second arm to be in position to engage one of said tripmeans on the roadway as said vehicle is moved to said one trip means,said outer end of the second arm and said trip means being located forsaid outer end to be swung back and upward by said one trip means and topass over it and swing down and forward again as said vehicle movesrelatively past the said one trip means in one direction, thereby toswing said first arm, and said striker element thereon, up from and thendrop it down again for producing a musical note.

8. The toy of claim 7 in which said second arm of said lever is in twoparts, the upper part being joined at said elbow to said first arm andthe lower part being pivotally mounted below the upper part to swing inthe same plane as the upper part, the upper end of said lower part andthe lower end of said upper part being operatively connected by a pinprojecting from a side of one of the parts and received in a generallyvertical slot through the other of said parts, whereby pivotal movementof the lower part in one direction swings the upper part, and said firstarm joined thereto, in the opposite direction.

9. The toy of claim 7 in which said roadway is a rail road trackcomprising parallel rails supported on cross ties and said vehicles areadapted to move along on said rails, and which includes a locomotiveadapted to ride on, and be moved along on, said rails and beingconnectable to one of said vehicles for pulling a train of said vehiclesalong said track, said trip means being pegs adapted to project up fromsaid cross ties in position to engage the said second arms of respectivestriking means on said vehicle for actuating said striking means as saidvehicles move along the track.

10. The toy of claim 9 in which said locomotive is selfpropelled.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,887,406 11/1932 Hafner 46-113FOREIGN PATENTS 740,158 8/1966 Canada.

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner. L. R. FRANKLIN, AssistantExaminer.

US. Cl. X.R. 46-113; 84-404

